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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
covered the field very fully, and that they have made valuable recommendations which should result in a reduction of 42 vehicles. They found that the existing practice whereby officers use their own cars for journeys on duty and are paid a mileage allowance for such use is economical, and to be encouraged. They also came to the conclusion that the bulk of the Govern- ment transport would be more economically employed in a pool and that vehicles should only be allocated to departments where for special reasons the pool could not be conveniently drawn upon. The committee further suggested that after the enlarged and reorganized pool had been in operation for six months the position might again be profitably reviewed, as further economies might then prove possible. The committee has cer- tainly carried out their task in an extremely satisfactory manner, and I should like to convey to them, and especially to Mr. Blaker as Chairman, how much their assistance has been appreciated by Government.
I will now touch briefly on some of the more important items of expenditure under the various departmental Heads.
Last year we abolished the old Development Secretariat, and its various sub-departments were shown under separate Heads. As a result of further experience, however, we have now reached the conclusion that a certain measure of co-ordination is necessary between these departments, and moreover that this would make for economy. A scheme has therefore been sub- mitted to the Secretary of State for his consideration, under which the Agricultural, Forestry, Gardens and Fisheries Departments, and the Fish and Vegetable Marketing Organiza- tions, will be placed under the control of a technical officer who might be drawn from any of these departments, but in the first instance will be the Senior Agricultural Officer. It will be necessary to appoint a more junior Agricultural Officer to take charge of the Agricultural Department, but the cost of this will be more than offset by economies in other directions, and when the departments can be housed under one roof, there will be further savings in messengers, transport expenses, etc. The Marketing Organizations will be required to rely to a greater extent on their own resources, and Government staff will be limited to those required for inspection purposes.
As the pro- posed re-organization had not been approved by the Secretary of State when the estimates were prepared, the departments in question are still shown separately, but where a post is vacant, which would not be required under the new organization, it has been omitted. It will be a comparatively simple matter to complete the re-organization by administrative action when the moment arrives.
It will be observed that there has been a considerable increase in Special Expenditure under the Civil Aviation Head, in spite of the fact that Kai Tak is at the moment passing through a rather slack period. From being overextended during the summer months when the staff had to deal with a peak of 3,188 aircraft per month, the number using the Airport dropped